Thought for Today
Genesis 41:57 Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.
Proverbs 23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
1 Corinthians 7:29 I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,
HAPPY (?) BLACK FRIDAY!?!
Some of you may be reading this following your own engagement into the commercial battlefields of the latest outbreak of the Wars of Commercialization. Unlike the Hundred Years War or our 2 World Wars, the Wars of Commercialization have been in constant battle since our earliest ancestors climbed down from the trees. Those ancestors at some point heard some version of “but all the kids in the other caves have one!” I cannot help wonder whether Adam and Eve ever heard the complaint, “But you let Cain have one!” And so both those earliest ancestors and many of us brave our way onto the battlefields of the Wars of Commercialization.
The only real changes I see in our modern battlefields are the incorporation of electronics and most recently AI plus the fact that we have extended our national ‘holiday’ of consumption excess to also incorporate Cyber Monday. Now, in addition to overspending on Friday, we can further overspend online on Monday.
I only quoted a portion of that Wikipedia line yesterday about Thanksgiving. The ellipsis was to elide “to extend the Christmas shopping season.” The article goes on to explain, "Thanksgiving had been celebrated on the last Thursday of November since President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863. However, in 1939, the calendar presented a unique situation with five Thursdays in November. The last Thursday would fall on November 30, leaving only 24 shopping days until Christmas. Retailers, concerned about the economic impact of a shortened shopping season during the Great Depression, lobbied FDR to move Thanksgiving up a week to November 23.” (en.wikipedia.org)
Now we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are merely the opening salvos in the unrelenting war of commercialization battling against our awareness of ‘the reason for the season.’ “Ma Nishtana (Hebrew: מה נשתנה) is a section at the beginning of the Passover Haggadah known as The Four Kushiyot, The Four Questions or ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’, traditionally asked via song by the youngest capable child attending Passover Seder.” (en.wikipedia.org) Maybe Christians need to initiate some version of that tradition from our ancestors-in-the-faith.
What makes these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas so different from all other weeks? Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. What makes Advent so special? Certainly it is not its association with either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Advent and Christmas do not exist simply to offer an excuse for the orgy of buying and gift giving this weekend initiates.
Our earliest ancestors knew all about buying. Soon after exiting the ‘safety’ of those trees, our ancestors began developing economic systems, the earliest of which probably involved bartering goods and services, exchanging one service or product for another. Long before the evolution of money, people exchanged things for other things. How many loaves of bread equaled 1 chicken? Genesis doesn’t tell us what “all the world” exchanged for that grain. We do know the ultimate result of how that all worked out for the Hebrews.
I pray this year that all of us keep ever mindful of that question, “What makes these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas so different from all other weeks?” In the fog of the battles and skirmishes in this War of Commercialization, do not lose sight of the real meaning of our Christmas celebration, the birth of the babe in the manger, God’s ultimate fulfillment of God’s love referenced in John 3:16.
Stay safe, rest secure in God’s love, trust God,
Pastor Ray